Salvador

I came to Brazil because of capoeira, a martial art invented by African slaves in Brazil. I had been learning capoeira for 3 years from Mestre Marcelo Pereira of Capoeira Mandinga school in Berkeley, California, and fell in love with everything about it. Capoeira calls Salvador its birthplace, we played capoeira with the musical rhythms of capoeira songs, many had sentimental lyrics about Salvador and Bahia. This trip took a lot of courage to plan and to make. I tried to learn portuguese for the last few months but I was just scratching the surface. Several months before the trip was to take place I met a young Afro-Brazilian guy living in Salvador online, and we quickly became good friends. His name is Fernando and lives in Salvador, and he helped make this a great trip with fond memories for me.

My portuguese served me well during the trip. First, the plane stopped at Sao Paulo before arriving in Rio de Janeiro. At Rio Airport I was to take a plane to Salvador. I tried to call Fernando about my arrival but I wasn't able to purchase the right phone card. A lady who spoke English came up to help me. The 2nd plane was delayed for about 2 hours, then I got on and it took off. It went back to Sao Paulo, then to Brasilia before to Salvador. I was served several dinners after taking off from each different city. The food was heavy and not great though. Once I arrived in Salvador, a young Brazilian guy from the same plane asked me in portuguese how to get to baggage claim! I was impressed that I didn't look like a foreigner here.

I took a bus that cost R2.5, which I mistook for R12.5. The driver first gave me the correct change, then he smiled slyly. Soon I came to the downtown stop. Following directions in my guidebook I walked several blocks to the hostel where Fernando worked, and found him (after talking to the guard in portuguese). It was a nice feeling I was able to get around in Brazil for the first time.

Salvador is a tropical city. Even though it was June (winter in Southern Hemisphere), it had a grimy and humid feel. The city center is extremely old, most buildings date back to 18th century or earlier, many in a state of advanced decay. My hotel room there had no glass in the windows. When I showered humongous large ants would crawl about. After the first night Fernando put me into a different hotel with more modern amenities. I loved the ancient architecture of the old town however, each house had very tall but very narrow doors opening onto the sloping cobbled streets.

The following few days I was treated to beautiful sea views, great beaches, and great looking people. I enjoyed the Bahian vegetarian foods, and the portuguese fish dishes. Usually one dinner order in a restaurant serves two, that was very good value too.